Spiritual Formation

Father Kevin at a “Teaching Mass” for the Kindergarteners

At Saint Thomas More School, teaching religion is priority, and the students’ religious faith is integrated into the day-to-day activities of the school. Through the teaching of religion, we hope to lead students to a closer personal relationship with God and a deeper understanding of Catholic principles and virtues. Above all, students are taught that God loves them unconditionally simply because they are, and not because of what they do. Students learn that God creates all men and women in God’s own image and likeness, and that, as a result, each man and woman and child has an innate dignity that all others must respect. Students learn to love God and neighbor within a faith community of one’s own choosing.

However, since Saint Thomas More School is a Catholic school, students are taught in age-appropriate ways what it means to live specifically as a Catholic Christian. They work to deepen their identity as Catholics, to integrate traditional Catholic values into their daily lives, and to become familiar with the teachings of the Catholic Church. The priests of the parish often visit the classrooms and join in the students’ discussions.

Saint Thomas More School is a major ministry of Saint Thomas More Church. In early 2016, the parish became a work of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). With the arrival of the Jesuits, the school adopted the spirituality of the Jesuits and began to reflect the traditional qualities of Jesuit education. For example, students are taught:

to seek and love God present in all people and all things;
to pursue what is for the greater glory of God;
to become a person for others;
to promote justice, especially among those who are most vulnerable, sharing, promoting justice and being an agent for positive change;
to respect each person as a child of God, with special care for the most vulnerable; and
to think critically and to make responsible choices that promote the good of all.

Saint Thomas More School students also engage in a variety of religious practices, some on a daily basis. These include:

participating with their teachers in a weekly celebration of Catholic Eucharist (Mass); students take responsibility for reading the Scriptures, leading the singing and several of the Mass prayers, and performing other liturgical functions;
gathering one Wednesday morning a month in the gym for Community Prayer; each class takes turns leading this prayer;
gathering once a month to pray the Rosary together;
celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation twice a year (students in grades 2 through 8);
participating in service projects throughout the year, manifesting their belief that love expresses itself in deeds; and
participating in a daylong retreat experience at one of several area retreat centers (middle school students).

In addition to participating in these explicitly religious activities, students are reminded of the implications of their faith for their daily lives in the course of their ordinary classroom, social, and recreational activities.

In short, Saint Thomas More School follows the admonition of Proverbs 22:6 – “Teach a child how he should live, and he will remember it all his life.”